By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Thor: Ragnarok rocked and yokked to the top once more with an estimated $57.3 million. A pair of new national releases started out well: Daddy’s Home 2 took with $29.7 million while the remake of Murder on the Orient Express came into the station with $28.3 million.
Exclusive openers were dominated by the potent $321,000 debut of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri from four outskirts. There were good expansions for Last Flag Flying and My Friend Dahmer, and a still-sizzling response to Lady Bird of $1.2 million from a mere 37 locations.
Indian imports were soft, including the Hindi Quarib Quarib Single, which grossed $138,000 and dual-language C/o Surya with $93,600.
Revenues topped $150 million and took a 17% slide from last weekend. It was a more tempered 5% drop from 2016 when second weekends of Doctor Strange and Trolls were in the forefront with $42.9 million and $34.9 million weekends and newcomer Arrival grossed $24.1 million. Domestic box office passed $9 billion Friday, approximately nine days earlier than last year.
Tracking for Daddy’s Home gave a slight edge with the sequel expected to gross around $30 million. Wth generally lackluster response to 2017 movie comedies, the few bright spots included Girls Trip. The original Daddy’s Home was a box office surprise, so fingers were crossed.
Studio exit polling identified the crowd as 57% female with a significant percentage of viewers identifying as families. Half were aged 35 and older. The film doesn’t open in significant international territories until November 23 but began in Holland and Romania to an estimated $430,000.
Despite four decades since the last Murder on the Orient Express, the big screen revival of Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective Hercule Poirot seemed a questionable commercial prospect. Filmed in 70mm (but with only four American locales projecting in that format) the production exceeded high-end estimates with an older crowd embracing it. The film tilted female with 56% of attendees and overall 76% of viewers were 25 and older. Still, 44% of the audience fell into the demo of 18-to-35 years. Murder made its first stop last weekend in the U.K., with a potent $6.6 million. This weekend added 56 foreign markets and an estimated $46 million including a health $19 million opening in China. Other key markets included Russia with $5.7 million and a $3 million start in Australia.
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
| Thor: Ragnarok | BV | 57.3 (14,050) | -53% | 4080 | 212.3 |
| Daddy’s Home 2 | Par | 29.7 (8,320) | NEW | 3575 | 29.7 |
| Murder on the Orient Express | Fox | 28.3 (8,460) | NEW | 3341 | 28.3 |
| A Bad Moms Christmas | STX/eOne | 11.6 (3,200) | -31% | 3615 | 39.9 |
| Jigsaw | Lionsgate | 3.4 (1,300) | -47% | 2651 | 34.4 |
| Boo 2! A Madea Halloween | Lionsgate | 2.1 (1,090) | -54% | 1900 | 45.9 |
| Geostorm | WB | 1.6 (930) | -51% | 1685 | 31.7 |
| Blade Runner 2046 | WB | 1.4 (1,670) | -38% | 863 | 88 |
| Happy Death Day | Uni | 1.3 (840) | -51% | 1564 | 54.9 |
| Lady Bird | A24 | 1.2 (33,050) | 235% | 37 | 1.7 |
| Let There Be Light | Atlas | 1.1 (1,390) | -37% | 774 | 5.9 |
| Only the Brave | Sony | .96 (790) | -50% | 1207 | 17.1 |
| Thank You for Your Service | Uni | .89 (660) | -59% | 1348 | 9.1 |
| The Lego Ninjago Movie | WB | .82 (1,060) | 2% | 771 | 58.5 |
| The Foreigner | STX/VVS | .76 (1,030) | -52% | 737 | 33.4 |
| Victoria & Abdul | Focus | .67 (1.070) | -44% | 637 | 21.1 |
| The Florida Project | A24/Elevation | .56 (2,460) | -11% | 229 | 3.8 |
| My Little Pony | Lionsgate | .53 (890) | -13% | 592 | 21.5 |
| LBJ | Electric | .51 (840) | -54% | 607 | 2.1 |
| Loving Vincent | Good Deed | .50 (2,370) | -16% | 212 | 3.9 |
| The Killing of a Sacred Deer | A24 | .46 (1,940) | 18% | 238 | 1.5 |
| American Made | Uni | .45 (1,080) | -44% | 419 | 50.7 |
| It | WB | .45 (770) | -52% | 578 | 326.6 |
| Marshall | Open Road | .42 (700) | -17% | 601 | 8.5 |
| Kingsman: The Golden Circle | Fox | .42 (990) | -45% | 421 | 99.4 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $145.20 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -5% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -17% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri | Searchlight | .32 (80,260) | 4 | 0.32 | |
| Wonderstruck | Roadside | .24 (910) | 3% | 261 | 0.82 |
| Jane | Abramorama | .22 (2,260) | -2% | 96 | 0.81 |
| Goodbye Christopher Robin | Searchlight | .18 (940) | -48% | 196 | 1.5 |
| My Friend Dahmer | FilmRise | .18 (3,570) | 412% | 51 | 0.23 |
| Last Flag Flying | Lionsgate | .17 (5,340) | 321% | 32 | 0.24 |
| The Square | Magnolia | .14 (3,080) | 14% | 46 | 0.43 |
| Qarib Qarib Single | Zee Studios | .14 (2,190) | 63 | 0.14 | |
| C/O Surya | Narasimha | 93,600 (1,440) | 65 | 0.09 | |
| Novitiate | Sony Classics | 53,400 (1,840) | 1% | 29 | 0.16 |
| Barbara | MK2 | 22,200 (3,700) | 6 | 0.02 | |
| No Greater Love | Atlas | 20,100 (910) | 22 | 0.02 | |
| Aramm | ATMUS | 15,100 (940) | 16 | 0.02 | |
| Nous sommes les autres | Seville | 12,700 (1,410) | 9 | 0.01 | |
| Thelma | Orchard | 10,500 (10,500) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Heart Blackened | CJ | 9,600 (4,800) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| Intent to Destroy | Abramorama | 7,500 (2,500) | 3 | 0.01 | |
| Pottersville | SP | 4,900 (700) | 7 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 2 – November 9, 2017) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office (millions) | Market Share | |||
| Warner Bros. (20) | 1780.9 | 19.80% | |||
| Buena Vista (9) | 1537.2 | 17.10% | |||
| Universal (16) | 1446.6 | 16.10% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (22) | 1116.9 | 12.40% | |||
| Sony (20) | 818.1 | 9.10% | |||
| Lionsgate (20) | 668.1 | 7.40% | |||
| Paramount (15) | 410.8 | 4.60% | |||
| Focus (14) | 138.1 | 1.55% | |||
| STX (8) | 137.7 | 1.55% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (7) | 118.7 | 1.30% | |||
| Open Road (9) | 99.6 | 1.10% | |||
| CBS (4) | 69.1 | 0.80% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (10) | 58.3 | 0.65% | |||
| Entertainment (3) | 51.1 | 0.55% | |||
| Bleecker Street (6) | 48.9 | 0.55% | |||
| A24 (12) | 46.7 | 0.50% | |||
| Other * (339) | 442.2 | 4.90% | |||
| 8989 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than .04% | |||||
